It is so wonderful to walk the streets of Tel Aviv and enjoy the sights and sounds. The children going to school, the noise from the constant renovation of the cities buildings, the fragrances emanating from the numerous restaurant’s around the city. Soon we will have elections and the rhetoric is unfortunately full of strong negative pronouncements by all parties. Little is actually positive with a pinch of fear thrown into the mix for the sensitive palate. Rakefet Bar-Sella is a wonderfully passionate, loving woman who lives in Tel Aviv and is concerned about the state of affairs in this country. This blog is an attempt to share her concerns and her desire for change. She also knows who she wants to support and why. Give a listen.

Yesh Atid – There is a great future just ahead

By: Rakefet Bar Sella

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rakefet, I’m 33 years old, single and I live in Tel Aviv (well at the outskirts of TA, but Shhhh, don’t tell my ego that).

I have a job and I am a productive member of society.

When you think about it, I work several jobs in order to pay the rent, bills and my taxes, so I guess I am a productive member of society.

I remember that when I was young and I asked myself what my life would be like at 30(ish).

The answer was never the way I ever imagined living today.

In my childish mind I saw myself working (some job that will bring me fulfillment and joy) living in the center of TA in a 2.5 bedroom apartment with my husband and our 3 year old boy, enjoying my time on earth.

The truth is – that currently, I can’t even imagine moving out of my 1.5 bedroom apartment because the cost is unaffordable and I have no more time in the day to work another job. I already work 3 jobs to pay my taxes, bills and rent.

When you think about it, if I had a child, I would be scared. I would be scared to send him to our poor educational system (I look at the next generation and I see how poor their language skills are, the numerous mistakes they make and how bored they are with their lives).

I would worry when he would get sick having to bring him to the health clinic in our neighborhood that has a distinct smell of garbage and they don’t even have modern equipment to take blood.

This is why when I saw Yesh Atid’s main points, I was moved.

I was moved that others were also very worried about our future.

It was a relief to see that somebody else gets it.

Housing

Yesh Atid gets that we need to reduce the cost of housing in Israel so I and others like me can rent an apartment and live comfortably and even buy a place someday.

Yesh Atid suggests that the government needs to build 150,000 apartments for rent in 10 major cities in Israel, so people can rent them cheaper by 35% than the current cost and by that reduce drastically the cost of living.

Taxes

Yesh Atid gets that as 2013 begins we are now paying even higher taxes forcing me and others like me to work even longer hours to make ends meet.

But not for the guy who runs one of the companies I work for, who’s assistant explained that he is currently thinking about moving to a different country and spending only 3 month in Israel each year – and by that he will not have to pay taxes anymore (he also explained that that will save him 10 million shekels!.

Not the guy who never worked in his whole life spending all of his time just learning Torah. Exempt from serving in the army or doing national service.

Yesh Atid will ensure that the tax burden will be divided equally. That the middle class will not suffer from the Government’s disregard of their contribution to our society.

Equality in national responsibilities

Yesh Atid gets the our nation can’t continue giving out benefits to people who did not contribute to her current state and did not go to the army or volunteer for national service.

It also means that my boyfriend (to be) won’t have to be away from our home 40 days per year and even if he is required to do so – he will get a fair wages for it and won’t have to lose his job.

The fact that Yesh Atid will make sure that there will be equality in national responsibilities makes me realize that someone has thought this through.

Education

For me, it goes hand in hand with the equality in national responsibilities – this is essential for building a concept of solidarity and mutual responsibility in society which helps educate our young members that you must contribute, thus helping them get a sense of self-worth.

My oldest nephew keeps telling me “I’m bored” (and let me tell you, this leads to stupid decision making) the reason he is bored is that the teachers are underpaid, tired and overworked.

Yesh Atid plans to bring back major funding to the educational system by getting it back from the other sectors (the ones that don’t believe that kids need to learn math, Hebrew and English).

So now, after you (hopefully) read all this, you can understand why I’m less frightened.

I get that there is a better future for us and it’s just right around the corner.

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